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Unbelievably, students in Monessen Middle School in Pennsylvania were given word search puzzles based on “Fifty Shades of Grey” that contained terms such as “spanking,” ”submissive,” ”leather cuffs,” “bondage,” “intercourse” and others more explicit.

According to CBS Pittsburgh, Joshua Kramer, a senior at Monessen High School told KDKA’s Brenda Waters he didn’t see the puzzle, but heard about it. He said “I heard it had a lot of raunchy stuff in it, not good at all. It was kind of ridiculous.” Kramer said about 4 or 5 students were given the puzzle by a teacher during “in school suspension.”

Now for those who might not be aware (like me), In School Suspension is “designed to minimize the need for Out-of-School Suspensions while providing constructive and positive learning experiences for students, it is not meant to be torturous.” I swear this is what a high school website says.

Here’s another definition of it: In-school suspension (ISS) is a disciplinary technique which is designed to penalize problem students for their behavior while still ensuring that they participate in the academic community in some way.

Well, then I guess a word search puzzle about discipline (and bondage) makes perfect sense to penalize these problem students.

Are you frigging kidding me? Problem students are given fun “puzzles” glorifying spanking, submission, leather cuffs and bondage?

What are we doing to our children?

Naturally parents who found out about this are livid, and School Superintendent Leanne Spazak said the circumstances of the puzzle are under investigation.

Another school board member said, “It was a huge but unintentional error and collected from the five students involved as soon as it was realized,” Roberta Bergstedt wrote in an email. “Unfortunately one copy was taken by a student who then posted it on social media.”

Who could possibly think this was a good idea for middle school students? How is it that we have so devolved in our culture that sado-masochistic sexual behavior is now “normal” enough to be discussed in middle school for heaven’s sake?

I had a spirited discussion this week with some liberal friends about the cultural decline in our nation. In fact, let me be more specific. The cultural ROT.

I recognize it is every generation’s job to shock the previous generation, but how about shocking them with goodness rather than spiraling downwards into depravity. Because where does this end?

As a nation, how can we muster up the outrage against the horrible atrocities committed by ISIS against children and women, who are selling them as sex slaves, as well as burying them alive, beheading and dismembering, when we begin to convince ourselves a little whipping and a little pain is actually kind of fun?

We don’t need to groom teenagers and women to accept abuse as something they should consider and accept. The Minnesota Child Protection League has created 50 Shades: The Pledge. I hope you’ll review it, and share it with your daughters and friends.

Meet Allen West

Allen West was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia in the same neighborhood where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once preached. He is the third of four generations of military servicemen in his family.

During his 22 year career in the United States Army, Lieutenant Colonel West served in several combat zones: in Operation Desert Storm, in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he was a Battalion Commander in the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, and later in Afghanistan.